The "Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur" Regional "Human Bone Library": A Tool for Anthropological Research and for the Preservation of Human Remains

Summary

Following an evaluation between 2004-2006, it appeared that more than 200 anthropological series had been assembled following excavations led in Provence Alpes Côtes d’Azur (PACA) region. These extremely scattered series had not all been subjected to a precise inventory, were disparately curated or even lost. Therefore, most of these collections were not or no longer accessible to scientists. Faced with this question concerning the heritage preservation, different regional actors invested in anthropological research argued on the best way to improve this situation. It was decided to create the "human bone library of PACA region". Today, the "human bone library" is part of the regional archeological deposit of the French Ministry of Culture and Communication in charge of curating archeological material. The "human bone library" comprises close to about 6000 subjects overall dating from the Neolithic to the Modern period. Now, with a little perspective, we can confirm that this "human bone library" is starting to impact anthropological research and valorises the collections on regional and national levels.

Besides presenting the "human bone library", this talk aims to highlight the conditions of the collections and of anthropological research in Southern France before and after this scientific management tool was implemented.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20732